You Are Not Evil

One of the founding pillars of Evangelical Christianity is not so much Jesus, not so much the Church, not even a firm belief in Hell[1], but in fact the firm belief in what we call ‘Worm Theology'[2].

The whole idea is that ‘we'[3] are no better than worms; we are the lowest of the low, the dirtiest of the dirty, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9)

And I don’t believe that. I don’t remember ever believing it. Even in my Fundieculty[4] days, I may have outwardly agreed with it, but deep down I knew that most people are good. Most people would call the emergency services if you were in a road accident. Some would even try to pull you out of the wreckage, even at the risk of their own health or lives. People let you out of road junctions when it’s not really your turn, with a simple wave of the hand. People hold doors open for you, rather than letting them drop back in your face[5]. Granted, to the Fundieculty, none of this counts, because as far as they are concerned, your righteousness is ‘as filthy rags’ (Is 64:6). In fact to a Fundieculty, nothing counts, because no matter how clever you are, no matter how good you are, no matter how helpful, kind, generous or loving you are, you are simply not good enough[6]. How to encourage people 101, guys. And when challenged about this, they will produce proof text after proof text to continue driving you into the ground with the piledriver of weaponised Scripture. But by that time you should be out of earshot, because you will have walked away 😀

No. This is simply not true. Granted, when I am driving a  car, I’m afraid I adopt the same attitude that my mother had: they are ‘The Enemy’ and they’re all out to get in your way and obstruct your intended course of action 😉 But other than that, no. People are usually good. There are exceptions, of course, most of whom are well-known; there are evil people. But just your average everyday ‘man in the street’ citizen, these are good people.

So in case I haven’t hammered this home enough, here’s a great piece by the incomparable Jeff Turner. You are not evil!


You are not evil.
Your heart is not deceitful, wicked, or untrustworthy, despite how badly Old Testament verses, taken out of their contexts, have been preached at you.
You may have been told this your entire life, including at those pivotal moments in childhood when your brain was in pure receiving mode, and was storing and creating the program that would later run your life.
You may have had it suggested, if not spelled out plainly, that you were conceived and brought forth in original sin, and would occupy a space of total depravity until you were able to make a conscious decision to follow Jesus and accept salvation.
This is pure fiction, and not even a part of the narratives found in either the Old or New Testaments. But it doesn’t matter what’s true as far as your experience of life and reality is concerned, it matters only what you believe is true.
When you believe you are of a fallen species, hopelessly bent in the direction of evil, unrighteousness, and sin, and, ultimately, a target of the eternal wrath of God, it’s difficult to trust yourself, recognize blessings and opportunities when they appear, and to take decisive action when you need to.
Such thinking and programming can literally take a life that could have changed the world, and turn it into one that goes unrecognized, both by the liver of said life, as well as by those sharing a planet with it.
Not that changing the world and greatness according to certain standards is even the goal, but I think most would like to live at least slightly above mediocrity, and mediocrity is, at best, what a mind convinced of its broken and untrustworthy nature can hope to achieve.
This week, speak to yourself of your goodness, trustworthiness, and ability to see a good opportunity when presented with one.Think on these things morning, noon, and night, and then anticipate opportunities to test them out.
One can hear corrective theology and deconstruct the bad all day long, and still have the stymying effects of the bad clinging onto them like barnacles.
It is often only in the arena of real life, wherein we act, move, and see for ourselves that what we thought to be true of ourselves simply is not, that real change occurs.So study theology, correct the errors in your belief system, but, also, prepare yourself to experience practically the truth of who you are. Once you begin to see, little by little, that you are capable of recognizing the good, acting on instinct and intuition, etc., you will naturally begin to know yourself for who you truly are.
You are capable of so much more than the program you’re likely running on is able to help you achieve.You are good.Your heart is trustworthy.
So, may opportunities find you, and may they find you prepared to take hold of them.
Life doesn’t have to be one drag after another.
You were created for more, and have the capacity for more.
Peace.
 – Jeff Turner, shared with his kind permission.

Wow. How do you follow that?

Maybe only by quoting St. Paul, who seems to have been of a similar mind, when he said this:

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” – Phil 4:8


Header picture is of one very relaxed Jeff Turner. On a bench.

Footnotes

Footnotes
1 Which, sadly, is in some places a more required belief than a belief in Jesus
2 How the hell did we get to that point in our belief system??
3 I despair when I see forum and Facebook posts referring to ‘We’ as if everyone in the entire world, and certainly the readers of that particular post, are all somehow collectively included in whatever nefarious plot the poster has in mind, whether it is a ‘We must…’ leading insidiously back to legalism (or into more legalism), a ‘We are…’ which ropes everyone into the same category of whatever misery the writer is pushing… and so on. I’m sure there are many other examples.
4 A fundamentalist Christian with a cult mindset. I’ve just invented that word now, and I like it 😉
5 My friend Richard has a great story to tell on this point. Out on lunch break, he was just coming out of the Merrion Centre in Leeds and as he went through the door, he looked back and saw a young woman a few yards back, and heading in the same direction. True to his generous nature, he held the door for her, only to be given the admonition, “I hope you’re not doing that because I’m a lady!” Quick as a flash, his rejoinder was “No, I’m doing it because I’m a gentleman”. No answer for that, of course! 😀
6 Actually, I sometimes think that peple like to drag others down to their own level of misery, which, apparently, loves company. In effect, they don’t like to think of anyone else as being better than them, so they find ‘Biblical’ proof to show that others are, indeed, just as bad. What it must be like to live like that…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.